Five talented filmmakers who were unfairly sentenced to life in director’s jail
There are many great filmmakers out there who have somehow ended up in the dreaded director’s jail: the worst place an artist could find themselves.
But why does this happen? Sometimes, a director just loses their spark, and the movies they make following their initial breakthrough fail to live up to the standards they set for themselves. Other times, they get embroiled in controversy – perhaps their ideas are too taboo and not commercial enough – and this inevitably leads them to struggle to find new opportunities.
It’s unfair, but that’s just the way the industry works sometimes. Yet, if there’s any filmmaker who needs rescuing from director’s jail, it’s one of these. While some of the filmmakers listed below have made bad films, they’ve also made some fantastic ones, and to banish them from the arena of filmmaking for good would be to lose some vital cinematic voices.
So from John Waters and Todd Solondz to Richard Kelly, here are five directors who were unfairly sentenced to director’s jail who just don’t belong there.
Five filmmakers unfairly sentenced to director’s jail:
Frank Darabont
OK, so Frank Darabont might have eventually found his place in the television landscape with The Walking Dead, which he developed, but the filmmaker could’ve had a more promising career as a Hollywood movie director. What happened? Well, the only Darabont movies people really know are The Shawshank Redemption, which has earned significant acclaim over the years for its moving tale of friendship and freedom, and The Green Mile.
He could’ve become the next Steven Spielberg or Ridley Scott, but since The Green Mile, he has only directed two more films, The Majestic and The Mist, which signalled a negative turn in his movie-making career. While The Mist was actually received quite well, Darabont still seems to be in director’s jail, at least in the movie world, and it’s about time he gets out.
Bo Welch
Now, you might disagree with me here, but if loving The Cat in The Hat has my credentials as a film journalist questioned, then so be it. Since I was little, I’ve believed the film to be a comedic masterpiece, and years later, my stance has not changed. It’s ridiculous, it’s camp, it’s perfectly stylish – what’s not to love? Mike Myers’ performance as the titular character is great, and you’ll be quoting the film years after you watch it.
Sadly, director Bo Welch has basically been in director’s jail ever since, with the film widely panned by critics. Clearly, they couldn’t spot talent if it hit them around the face like a baseball bat to a piñata. Welch is talented,d though, and he actually has multiple Oscar nominations to his name for his work as a production designer. No wonder The Cat in The Hat’s set design is so good. I think he deserves a second chance to make another movie, because a Dr Seuss adaptation has never been as entertaining as this one.
Richard Kelly
When Donnie Darko emerged in 2001, it quickly became a cult favourite, and it has only continued to find popularity in the years since – there’s literally a whole generation who associate Echo and the Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon’ with Jake Gyllenhaal. Richard Kelly’s directorial debut marked him out as a fresh new talent with an innovative and bold approach to cinema, but his next few projects crashed and burned.
While he divided critics with Southland Tales in 2006, his next project, The Box, was rather forgettable. Thus, he has failed to direct a movie since 2009, and it doesn’t seem like he’s getting out of director’s jail anytime soon. But if Donnie Darko proves anything, Kelly really does have talent, and it’s a shame that it’s clearly going to waste.
Todd Solondz
Like John Waters, Todd Solondz made a name for himself as an indie filmmaker, with movies like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness cementing him as the kind of director who can find humour in the darkest of places. His movies are real gems that deserve considerably more praise, but the innately divisive nature of his work has meant that producers aren’t exactly rushing to finance his next project.
It has been nine years since Solondz last made a film, which was Wiener-Dog, with Greta Gerwig playing a grown-up version of Dawn from Welcome to the Dollhouse. Grossing just $700,000 at the box office, it’s not a surprise that Solondz isn’t reeling in offers to make a new film. Yet, the director could certainly produce something considerably more interesting than half the stuff emerging these days – if only he were let out of director’s jail.
John Waters
Emerging to controversy and acclaim with cult classics like Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble in the 1970s, John Waters has since become one of the most notorious filmmakers of all time. He has found lots of success over the years with more commercially accessible films like Hairspray and Cry Baby, while his live shows and various books have also kept him afloat. But since 2004, it seems like Waters has been in director’s jail.
It’s a true tragedy because he is a cinematic pioneer, but Waters simply can’t find the funding for his next project, which was meant to be an adaptation of his novel Liarmouth. A Dirty Shame marked his last directorial effort over 20 years ago, and perhaps the bizarre nymphomaniac comedy—often dubbed his worst movie—has prevented him from making another film.
